Alor - done my homework, now some important questions

[Eddie W]

Hello Mate,

In the UK at the moment on holiday, the boat is in dry dock, back mid March.....

 

[cephalopod2]

One of the things I am chewing on is night dives. Kapal Seram wrote that their night dives were the best dives of their Alor trip.

Apparently night dives in Kalabahi Bay can be terrific - available only with Thomas or LOB.

Night dives on the French house reef are apparently good but not exceptional, and a guide is not guarenteed (I will not have a buddy with me for that leg, and in such a small resort there is no guarentee there will be other keen night divers).

Obviously there is also quite a range of cost between the three.

It's quite a choice. For the ops that dive the area every day you can have a fast boat or three boat dives a day - not both. A house reef or access to one of the best night diving areas.

Hmmm..

 

[Layla]

Hey Natasha

You are a Canadian version of me ... so organised and plan everything
we should travel together some day

 

[Layla]

Hey Eddie

Does that mean that my trip on the 12th is the first one after dry docks
Do you know who will be covering for you
I didn't realise Garry had moved on

In the UK at the moment on holiday, the boat is in dry dock, back mid March.....

 

[silent running]

One of the things I am chewing on is night dives. Kapal Seram wrote that their night dives were the best dives of their Alor trip.

Apparently night dives in Kalabahi Bay can be terrific - available only with Thomas or LOB.

Night dives on the French house reef are apparently good but not exceptional, and a guide is not guarenteed (I will not have a buddy with me for that leg, and in such a small resort there is no guarentee there will be other keen night divers).

Obviously there is also quite a range of cost between the three.

It's quite a choice. For the ops that dive the area every day you can have a fast boat or three boat dives a day - not both. A house reef or access to one of the best night diving areas.

Hmmm..

Hello again Natasha, I had some good night dives in the bay, the best of which was right near the mouth, saw a 3+ft squid, which had likely come up from the deep water outside, I think it was a different species than the usual, smaller variety seen on the reef during the day. Followed it around for about 20 minutes. Best macro was also in the bay, during an afternoon dive on the way back to Kalabahi. Thomas had a site near the left shore that had lots of soft corals and some nooks with a kind of electric fire scallop, some kind of large red and white frogfish and bunches of mandarin fish living in a rock pile near the end of the dive.

But, I have to say, the best night dives I did in Indonesia were in Ambon... -Andy

 

[Eddie W]

Layla,

No its the boats second trip, they are doing a short Bali-Komodo trip first.

Garry moved on in July/August of 2011, all in good spirit, he had been with Dancer for 8-10 years.


Natasha,

The night dives in Kalabahi are great, some of the best Macro dives you will do anywhere. We have 3 different sites that we do there, that said we did one trip with a group that wanted to repeat and repeat the one site so we did it 3 times. They loved it.

Eddie

 

[Thomas Schreiber]

Hi Natasha,
it's me, Thomas from Alor Dive.
If each customer have so mutch questions like you, I know it will be stress to have you as diving customer in Alor. I work since more than 30 year in customer services and on the email conversation I know already what will be happen. I hope you find the right diving operator in Alor and I can enjoy the dives (and livebords) with my repeat customers and their friends.

 

[Bali Diver]

Hi Natasha,
it's me, Thomas from Alor Dive.
If each customer have so mutch questions like you, I know it will be stress to have you as diving customer in Alor. I work since more than 30 year in customer services and on the email conversation I know already what will be happen. I hope you find the right diving operator in Alor and I can enjoy the dives (and livebords) with my repeat customers and their friends.

Was thinking that too ! The area of Alor is remote and has some really stunning diving and macro sites and some great night diving,those who operate there know the area well and offer various options.Depending what you prefer or want should make up your decision who to dive with and at what cost.Sometimes you can think and plan too hard

 

[cephalopod2]

Thank you everyone who sent information that is not online anywhere else - divers sharing first-hand info with other divers in the helpful spirit of ScubaBoard.

Hello again Natasha, I had some good night dives in the bay, the best of which was right near the mouth, saw a 3+ft squid, which had likely come up from the deep water outside, I think it was a different species than the usual, smaller variety seen on the reef during the day. Followed it around for about 20 minutes. Best macro was also in the bay, during an afternoon dive on the way back to Kalabahi. Thomas had a site near the left shore that had lots of soft corals and some nooks with a kind of electric fire scallop, some kind of large red and white frogfish and bunches of mandarin fish living in a rock pile near the end of the dive.

But, I have to say, the best night dives I did in Indonesia were in Ambon... -Andy

 

[Layla]

Really, if I'd have known that i would've booked on the Bali to Komodo + the Komodo
I have booked extra days upfront on Flores just to get some additional dives in, I would've preferred the liveaboard than Land based (

Layla,

No its the boats second trip, they are doing a short Bali-Komodo trip first.